The Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur tiger, is the largest tiger subspecies and the largest of all the big cats.

Key tiger habitat could be logged

The protests have followed an application by the wood harvesting and export company JSC Les Export for a timber lease in the Bikinsky Pine Nut Harvesting Zone in the Bikin River Basin, in Primorsky Province, Russia. This area forms one of the largest intact tracts of old-growth Korean pine-broadleaf forest in the world, and is a vital habitat for remaining populations of the Siberian, or Amur, tiger.

JSC Les Export has already been criticised after gaining approval for two forest leases earlier this year, also in vital tiger habitat and in areas which form an important wildlife corridor connecting the Russian population of Siberian tigers with the Chinese population across the border.

Siberian tiger cub.

WWF Russia and the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Primorsky Province are now leading calls to cancel the new logging lease to protect tiger habitat in Primorsky Province.

Proposed World Heritage Site

In November 2010, the Bikin River Basin was proposed as a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Siberian tiger, whose populations have rebounded in recent decades but still face many threats.

Speaking on the possible timber lease, the Director of WWF Russia’s Amur branch, Yury Darman, said, “We regard this as a betrayal. JSC Les Export previously agreed that it would not use timber from pine nut harvesting zones or protected areas. JSC Les Export’s actions go against the company’s commitment to work towards certification under the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent organization that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests.”

Classified as Endangered by the IUCN, the Siberian tiger is under threat from poaching, conflict with humans, habitat loss and the loss of its prey.

Impact of logging on local people

The timber lease would also impact on the lives of the native residents of Bikin, the Udegei and Nanai, whose livelihoods depend on traditional uses of the region’s forests. The forests have been under lease since 2009 by the Indigenous Peoples’ Association, for the processing of pine nuts and medicinal plants. Residents have petitioned the provincial and federal governments not to allow leasing of the area for timber harvesting.

“This is our forest. We hunt here, fish here, gather medicinal plants here, harvest wood here for our personal needs,” said Igor Kukchenko, Vice President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Primorsky Province. “The inhabitants of our village Krasniy Yar have spoken out against the leasing of this forest tract by JSC Les Export and any other industrial logging in the Bikin.”